Strawberry plant

ABSTRACT

A new and distinct ever-bearing variety of strawberry plant characterized by its vigorous plant growth and heavy crops when planted in December. The variety is a prolific runner and is further characterized by its showy long, abundant inflorescence and large amount of pollen, and its reddish-brown pedicels. The fruit is smooth and firm with exerted seeds and rounded at the apex, and has a mild, pleasant aroma and high dessert quality.

This invention relates to a new and distinct variety of strawberry plantwhich is the result of a cross of the Driscoll patented everbearingvariety U.S. Plant Pat. No. 3,274 and Driscoll springbearing selectionG8.

The seedlings resulting from the aforementioned cross were grown andasexually multiplied in Shasta County, Calif., and tested in thefruiting beds on the property of growers on the Driscoll StrawberryAssociates, Inc. Clones of the seedlings were also held at thePropagation Nursery in Shasta County. One plant was selected from theaforementioned group of seedlings and further asexually reproduced byrunners in the Shasta County nursery of Driscoll Strawberry Associates,Inc. Tests followed in various parts of California during interveningseasons on various properties of grower members of the DriscollStrawberry Associates, Inc. These tests indicated the merits of thenovel plant and resulted in its selection as a promising test variety.

In the drawing:

FIG. 1 illustrates plant parts of the new everbearing variety which aretypical in size, shape and color.

Referring to FIG. 1, a berry is shown in cross-section illustrating theflesh color and characteristic core cavity. The inflorescence shown inthe drawing is illustrative of typical branching and relative sizeduring the middle of July. The large inflorescence has pedicels that arereddish green in color with the pedicel holding the primary berryoriginating from the axil formed by the two peduncles. Also illustratedare the two secondary berries which are often an equal distance from theaxil giving the total inflorescence a symmetric outline.

Three secondary peduncles instead of two are not uncommon. The leafillustrated is typical in size, shape and color but bracts not shown maybe present on some petioles. As the season progresses, the peduncles andpedicels lengthen.

The plant of this novel variety is medium in size and consideredvigorous for an everbearer. If given ample chilling, it producesheaviest when planted during late December or January, but will cropcommercially if planted in March. It is adapted mainly to the centralcoast region of California. If planted during January, its peakproduction and largest fruit size comes during July. It will continueproducing during September but its fruit size drops significantly afterJuly. Some of its distinguishing characteristics are its showy longinflorescence, firm fruit with exerted seed and good flavor. The plantis slightly smaller with leaves that are darker but smaller and morerugose than the Driscoll patented Heidi variety, U.S. Plant Pat. No.3,123. Heidi is a spring fruiting variety, but the two varieties have asimilar cropping pattern if the Heidi is given its correct chilling forhigh production. Both varieties have crown crop fruit of equal size, butthe Heidi maintains a superior size during the main crop, especiallyafter the peak production in July.

The new variety has a more visible inflorescence above the plant withreddish pedicels also distinguishing it from the Heidi. Both the fleshand skin of the new variety are considered firm, equal to that of Heidi.It holds its seed in a more exerted position on the fruit than doesHeidi. It is prone, as is Heidi, to bronzing after thrip feeding andwill crack easily after a rain or after some insecticide sprays. It ismore prone to show albino fruit than is Heidi (when areas of the fruitsurface between the seed do not color normally and often become puffyand weak, the condition is referred to as albinism). Low carbohydrateswithin the plants help induce this condition and low carbohydrates maybe caused by high nitrogen available to the plant or lack of sunlight.

The new variety is similar to Heidi in that its fruit surface is quitesmooth, lacking in longitudinal furrows or other malformed fruit surfaceconditions. It may have some folded seeded tips on primaries of its maincrop, but in general it does not have as many white tips as Heidi. Ittends to be more rounded at the apex and not as conic as Heidi if largenumbers of fruit are compared. When observing full crate amounts of thefruit picked with the same degree of ripeness, the new variety is darkerin color.

The calyx of the new variety is large and showy, but not as large as theHeidi. It is more reflexed than Heidi. Individual sepals may beserrated, but not as prevalent as Heidi and sepals do not overlap asconsistently as Heidi. The new variety often produces a white areaaround and under the calyx, a condition not common to Heidi. Both Heidiand the new variety produce flowers with anthers that produce anabundance of pollen even early in the spring during the flowering of thecrown crop.

Even though an everbearer, the new variety is a more abundant runnerproducer than Heidi at the nursery, as well as the fruiting bed. Thedessert quality of the new variety is equal to that of Heidi. The newvariety has a mild but pleasant strawberry odor similar to that ofHeidi. The new variety has the same degree of susceptibility to injuryfrom the two-spotted mite. The new variety is not as susceptible tomildew as Heidi. It has not been completely tested against theVerticillium or the Red Stele diseases. As a seedling and selection,this variety withstood the natural invasions of certain virus componentsfound in central California without losing its ability to produce.

The new varietal characteristics of the novel plant, described below indetail, were observed mainly during the first fruiting season.Observations were made during July and August in the Watsonville area ofCalifornia which is a cool coastal area near the Pacific Ocean. Thecolor terminology is in accordance with the Munsell Color System.

Plants: Medium to large, vigorous if given ample chilling before beingplanted, and has an extensive root system. Isozymes in Leaf Extracts.Phosphoglucoisomerase (PGI): similar to Heidi with the five-bandedpattern called by the University of California the Aiko or A4 pattern.30/35/40 mm. under the standardized test done by University ofCalifornia (Scandolios. 1969 Biochem. Genet. 3:37-79).

Leaves: Medium in size. The mature central leaflet is usually 5 to 8 cm.in width and length. Petioles vary from 15 to 25 cm. in length whenmeasuring from their base to the petiolule. Petiolules of centralleaflet are mostly short, averaging 5 mm. in length. Most petioles arefree of bracts, but may be present on some petioles. Leaflets arestrongly rugose and serrations are deep and acute at the apex. The colorof the upper side of the leaflet is 5.6 GY 2.3/3.6.

Runners: If a plant is dug from low elevation on December 1 and is givenmean temperatures of less than 50° F. during the month of Januaryfollowing a January 1 planting, 2.5 runners per plant can be expected.

Inflorescence: The inflorescence is long, 25 to 35 cm., with generally along common peduncle, 15 to 20 cm. Mostly two secondary peduncles, but 3or 4 may be present. Pedicels are often conspicuously reddish in color.The hair on a pedicel holding a tertiary flower lies against andparallel with the pedicel. Pedicels holding the primary berry usuallyoriginate at the axil formed by the union of peduncles, but rarely mayoriginate from one of the peduncles. Flowers are conspicuous above theplant and are abundant. Anthers produce an abundance of pollen.

Fruit: Crown crop berries are medium in size in contrast to the fruitsize of the main crop. Primary fruit from the main crop are mostly 35mm. in width and 40 mm. in length with some becoming larger. Secondaryand tertiary fruit are smaller, especially after the main July crop.Fruit shape is mostly medium to long wedge in outline. The shoulders arerounded at the calyx end and not necked. There may be a white area,however, under the calyx. The fruit apex is generally rounded wedge inoutline, in contrast to a wedge shape where the berry is almostrectangular in outline. The fruit surface is mostly smooth, not rough orfurrowed. The apex is not seedy and discolored, except for someprimaries during the main crop. The seed is medium to large and isexerted and darkens readily when exposed to direct sunlight. The fruithas high dessert quality. The fruit surface color is 5.5R2.9/11.6, andthe flesh color near the epidermis is 7.9R4.5/16.3.

Calyx: Medium to large in diameter becoming 40 mm. in diameter onprimaries. There is some overlapping of sepals on the main crop as wellas some serrations. The calyx is mostly free of the surface and canbecome reflexed. Color of sepals on the side facing the fruit is 8.2 GY3.2/6.1.

I claim:
 1. The new and distinct strawberry plant herein described andillustrated, and identified by the characteristics enumerated above.